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[Originally published in The Guardian] It's a Sunday afternoon in Notting Hill in west London. People are milling around the foyer
of the Coronet cinema, in anticipation of the film that's about to start. It's not the latest Harry Potter or Hollywood action blockbuster, though. These 300 people – mostly black British men and women age 25 and upwards, with some young children and teenagers in tow – are there to watch the first offering from Rapture Film Club, a new monthly club dedicated to the screening of black films.
Twenty years ago, during the heyday of black British film, clubs of this kind were common. Now, it seems, they are returning. In recent years, notwithstanding a handful of critically acclaimed films such as 2006's Kidulthood, the number of programmes and films aimed at black audiences in the UK has fallen. Priscilla Igwe, the brains behind Rapture, does not believe this was due to a lack of audience interest. "I think there is a gap in Briti…